About Me

I am a lawyer in Melfort, Saskatchewan, Canada who enjoys reading, especially mysteries. Since 2000 I have been writing personal book reviews. This blog includes my reviews, information on and interviews with authors and descriptions of mystery bookstores I have visited. I strive to review all Saskatchewan mysteries. Other Canadian mysteries are listed under the Rest of Canada. As a lawyer I am always interested in legal mysteries. I have a separate page for legal mysteries. Occasionally my reviews of legal mysteries comment on the legal reality of the mystery. You can follow the progression of my favourite authors with up to 15 reviews. Each year I select my favourites in "Bill's Best of ----". As well as current reviews I am posting reviews from 2000 to 2011. Below my most recent couple of posts are the posts of Saskatchewan mysteries I have reviewed alphabetically by author. If you only want a sentence or two description of the book and my recommendation when deciding whether to read the book look at the bold portion of the review. If you would like to email me the link to my email is on the profile page.

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

The Real Pleasantville

Attica Locke

The
Pleasantville in Pleasantdale by
Attica Locke is an actual community within Houston, Texas. In the book
Pleasantville becomes an important part of the story.

The
residents of Pleasantville are a political force because of the high voter
turnout. In city and state elections candidates make it a point to visit the
“Mighty 259” (the precinct number for Pleasantville). Voting as a block they
could be the swing vote in a close election.

In
the opening Locke quotes James Campbell from the Houston Chronicle:

Any politician worth his salt knows
the road to elected office

passes through Pleasantville.

What
makes Pleasantville unique is that it was the first planned development for the
Negro (in the language of the era) middle class expanding swiftly after World
War II. Locke describes Pleasantville’s origins in an interview with NPR:

"Pleasantville was the invention of two Jewish
developers in 1949," she says. "They came up with this idea that they
were going to create one of the first of its kind in the nation — 'a planned
community for Negro families of means and class.' ... You're talking about
black families that couldn't buy anywhere else because of segregation. So it
was this really special place where doctors, lawyers, educators, engineers were
all congregated together in this really vibrant cultural center."

The
first house built was purchased by Judson Wilbur Robinson Sr. who was the
effective leader of Pleasantdale. A note in Texas State Historical Association
website outlines his business and community involvement outside of government:

He established his real estate business, Judson W. Robinson & Sons Real
Estate and Mortgage Company in 1962. This was the first African-American
mortgage company in the state that was approved by the Federal Housing
Administration. He also established the National Real Estate Association, a
mostly black organization, in 1950. In his community of Pleasantville, which is
one of Houston’s oldest black subdivisions, he served as chairman of Precinct
259 and boosted voter participation to the largest turnout within the city. He
was a member of the board of directors of Riverside General Hospital, formerly
known as the Houston’s Negro Hospital, from 1965 to 1975. He was also a
director of Trinity East United Methodist Church. Robinson was a founding
member of the Houston Area Urban League, a nonprofit agency which is affiliated
with the United Way and the National Urban League that opened in 1968.

His
son Judson Wilbur Robinson Jr. became President of the company upon his
father’s retirement. In politics he became Houston’s first African American
city councillor and won 5 re-elections serving until his death.

The
Robinsons certainly look to be the inspiration for the Hathorne family of Pleasantville. In the book Sam “Sunny”
Hathorne is a banker who has been the acknowledged Pleasantville leader for
decades.

His
son Axel is running to be the first African American mayor of Houston.

In
writing the book Locke drew upon her own family as well. In 2009 she returned
to Houston where her father was running for mayor. An interview with her in The Telegraph includes the following:

Many of the
equally slippery characters are based on people Locke met during her father’s
campaign, which sounds like an extraordinarily ugly affair. Gene Locke, a civil
rights activist turned lawyer, stood against Annise Parker (the inspiration for
the book’s Machiavellian Reese Parker). Both were Democrats: the predominantly
white, conservative electorate had a choice between a black man and a gay white
woman. “So all of the anti-gay bigots went to my dad and all the racists went
to Annise,” sighs Locke. “She took money from racists. My dad had money given
to him by anti-gay people. I was disgusted with Annise and disappointed by my
father.”

While
inspired by real life Locke does make changes. Axel is a former Houston Police
Chief not a realtor. She has Axel and his opponent, Sandy Walcott, as two law
and order candidates. Her real life father and his opponent, Annise Parker, are
a pair of minority candidates.

Locke
says Pleasantville has faded over the past 57 years. In the book she spoke of
middle class African Americans choosing other suburbs as Houston de-segregated.

8 comments:

I always find it really interesting, Bill, when authors use real places like that as their inspiration. And I can see how the real Pleasantville would be that sort of place for Locke. Thanks for sharing a bit about it; it helps in understanding the Pleasantville of the novel.

That's fascinating Bill - I already wanted to read Pleasantville, and am now even more convinced I will. Good to read about such a specific milieu. I read a few very good books by Stephen L Carter, a US judge (I think) who turned to writing fiction about the world of affluent Black high flyers. They had strong legal backgrounds, I think you might like them if you haven't already come across them.

Moira: "Sigh". I have had a book from Stephen L. Carter on the TBR for a few years. You have reminded me it deserve to be read. It would be interesting to see how Carter and Locke write about affluent African Americans.